The call from Hagel came one day after his Wikipedia entry was changed following Howard's record-setting 16-stop performance in a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Belgium to show that Howard was actually the U.S. secretary of defense. While the change was soon corrected, a screenshot of the edited page was tweeted and quickly went viral.

With that in mind, Hagel placed a call from the Pentagon to the goalie to offer his congratulations and share a laugh at the joke.

The Pentagon released this statement with the photo above on Wednesday afternoon:

"Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called U.S. Men's National Team goalkeeper Tim Howard to thank him for defending the United States of America at the World Cup. Secretary Hagel congratulated Howard on his record-breaking game and a great run in Brazil. He invited Howard and the entire team to come to the Pentagon later this year. He told Howard that with some training, he could someday become the real secretary of defense."